This invention relates to techniques for mounting a circuit board to a chassis, a frame, another circuit board or the like and for making an electrical connection between the circuit board and the object to which it is mounted.
It is typically necessary to mount circuit boards either to a chassis or a frame or to other circuit boards. It also is frequently necessary to provide an electrical connection between the mounted circuit board and the object to which it is mountedxe2x80x94to provide a ground, for example. Numerous techniques have been employed to accomplish mounting and electrical connection simultaneously by using conductive standoffs. Unfortunately, prior art techniques employing conductive standoffs have used elaborately-designed standoffs and have presented rather tall profiles relative to the mounted circuit board. Consequently, such techniques have been expensive and have interfered with product compactness.
A circuit board mounting and connecting scheme according to a preferred embodiment of the invention employs a conductive standoff having a shoulder, a stem and a head. A circuit board to be mounted on the standoff defines a clearance hole opening into a channel. The clearance hole is sufficiently large to clear the head of the standoff, and the channel is sufficiently wide to clear the stem but not the shoulder. A low-profile conductive clip has two resilient prongs. The clip is mounted to the circuit board so that the prongs are disposed along either side of at least a portion of the channel. The prongs are able to move toward and away from each other in a plane that is parallel to the plane of the circuit board. To mount the board, the head of the standoff is passed through the clearance hole, and the stem is moved to the end of the channel. When the stem reaches the end of the channel, the two prongs engage either side of the head, thereby creating the electrical connection.